Those completely white hands were like a stark contrast against the total darkness surrounding them, as if they were the only thing that could stand out. With a twisting motion, she made Jago spin in the air and get thrown violently, crashing into and destroying something behind him.
'It seems everything is dark, but we're still in the same place in the original world since I can still sense where everything is… looks like this is an incomplete zone spell.'
As if stepping in, the legs appeared, and like the hands, they were also white. In fact, the entire body was white. As he fully entered where Enrico stood, his true colors began to show in a completely different form.
'So this is your Nartheis appearance, Enrico…'
With a cross on his face like a mask, the only thing visible were those golden, animal-like eyes. His skin tone was gray in the areas still exposed, and his clothes—no, what once were his clothes—had become a second layer of his skin, completely black, with sharp claws and fangs. His hair had grown long and dark, reaching his back, and his ears were slightly pointed. On his chest, a white cross symbol stood out.
Name: Vaen — Rank Ranvil Level Two
Magic: Void
Unique Ability: Void Panther — grants the ability to multiply strength the more prey he devours / Devour Magic — can absorb an opponent's magic and use it once per day; this ability can be improved.
With smoke coming slightly from Vaen's mouth, a movement of his hand struck Jago in the stomach, creating a shockwave that distorted the air for kilometers around that massive city. The world itself, sensing that danger, began to react—this was the level of a seventh-circle mage.
"So you're a Ranvil level two? How curious—I am as well."
To the surprise of the three vampires, Jago had managed to defend himself with the palm of his hand, though with some difficulty. It seemed both were on equal footing.
"Bone Armor."
Around Jago, armor began to form over every part of his body. When the bones sealed around his head in the shape of a skull, his eyes glowed red, and he countered the punch with equal force.
"Damn, those monsters are actually fighting!"
"I don't understand—they're supposed to be on the same side, aren't they?"
Elaris was deeply confused, as was Lamia, but somehow, they both felt that being protected by these Nartheis was a good thing. Yumeha and Rina, however, felt their hearts tighten upon seeing that Nartheis—as if it were Enrico himself.
"Sister Rina, the master?"
"Yumeha, be quiet. We'll ask for explanations later."
"You're right—our master isn't one to hide things from us."
Seraphina watched everything closely, trying to understand why she could feel Enrico's presence within that creature. As the dust from the last impact settled, the Void one had also managed to defend against Jago's attack. Opening his mouth, a black ray shot out, hitting Jago's face directly and sending him flying away.
"Giant Skull—Full Summon!"
A giant skeletal knight, resembling the boss of a zombie dungeon, appeared holding a sword. Swinging it, the blade cut across the entire city and continued several kilometers beyond.
Charging his fist with void energy, Vaen shattered part of Jago's bone armor and sent him flying again. He repeated this three times before Jago retaliated, pulling a scythe from the corpses of the zombies below.
Receiving a slash to the chest, Vaen pointed his finger at Jago's face, firing a black and white ray that pierced through Jago's head. Even without a head, Jago moved behind Vaen and delivered three deep slashes.
Vaen's body moved only a few centimeters. Even with the cuts tearing through his chest and shoulder, a dark mist flowed instead of blood. The metallic sound of the scythe being pulled back into Jago's hands echoed as the air itself seemed to vibrate with tension.
For a brief moment, silence ruled that shadowed battlefield. The air felt dense—too heavy to breathe. Then Vaen's voice broke through the silence, deep and distorted, almost doubled, as if two entities spoke at once.
"Kill… avenge…"
"It seems you still can't fully control yourself. That's good—it means I can study you more easily."
The battle restarted—pure brute strength and raw magic, no room for words. Vaen advanced first: the Void Panther erupted like solid shadow, muscles condensed in darkness and golden eyes tearing through the air. The initial impact was an explosion of vacuum—the air was sucked away, sand and debris swirling into vortices that shredded buildings.
Jago responded with a cyclone of bones; a wall of bone rose before him and exploded into shards, but Vaen's magic ripped through it as if it never existed. Jago raised his scythe, focusing.
'Even as a newborn, he's dangerous for his level.'
Each swing of Jago's scythe left a crimson trail of light, while each strike from Vaen brought darkness. Vaen moved fast, leaping in defiance of physics—his limbs vanishing and reappearing from impossible angles, opening wounds that devoured even the pain along with the flesh.
Jago summoned necromantic power, pulling corpses from the ground and shaping them into blades and spears. A sea of zombies was launched like projectiles, but Vaen tore through them without slowing down. Wherever his fangs touched, the monsters dissolved into black mist, which was sucked directly into Vaen's mouth.
[Unique Ability: Devour — Activated]
Feeding on that mist, he grew—muscles once trembling now tightened with more mass, and the golden glow in his eyes intensified, like twin beacons igniting from within. Vaen's darkened skin hardened into layered plates reflecting dim light.
A Bone Knight, summoned by Jago, joined the fight with its sword. It carved through the air, opening a corridor to the horizon, tearing roofs away and leaving a scar of destruction.
"Death Rift!"
Vaen dodged like a stretched shadow, his feline body gliding between the threads of the attack, the blade grazing only his tail and slicing off a strip of darkness that immediately regenerated.
'Regeneration—quite high. Makes sense for a Nartheis Ranvil level two.'
However, the energy of the attack didn't go to waste. Vaen moved over the blade like a blur and, upon contact, devoured part of its enchantment. Thin streams of magic were pulled like threads of light; Vaen absorbed them, and for an instant, his twilight form pulsed with wider rhythms.
Watching the battle, the girls trembled slightly at the power being displayed by both, but one thought was clear among them.
'I hope that dark Nartheis kills that damn zombie bastard.'